Epilogue
by guts brains
Summary: Haunted by the everpresent nightmares that what's already happened will happen again, Max tries to keep up with Chloe, and Chloe with Max, to see who will confess their undying love first.
1. Chapter 1

After the havoc of the Arcadia Bay tornado, the residents and students of Blackwell were moved to Coos Bay, a less expensive town of several unoccupied houses and a dwindling homeless population. After the tragedy—102 dead and 6,000 injured—residents were of utmost importance to be evacuated and provided for.

Joyce Price was not a tragic casualty, but a shining force through the gleaming sunset. When Chloe met her mother at their past property on Cedar Road, Chloe ran amidst rubble and disintegrating wood and concrete and embraced the shaken woman. Max stood close behind, with mournful eyes, but both were overwhelmed with relief she was still breathing.

In the rubble there were soaked destroyed clothes, plumbing, and unsalvageable food. What little clothes Chloe had, she'd saved in her trunk.

In no time, they were up in Coos Bay, living a luxurious life off of food stamps and government provisions. A one-bedroom with shabby dirty white wood walls and no garage— not even a yard, but a side walkway covered in mud.

Max awoke next to her best friend Chloe, lying on her stomach. Chloe rolled over and her right arm went up, buried beneath the stained white pillow. Her blue eyes slowly opened, pale in the sunlight through the cracked window. Max smiled at her. She looked beautiful.

"Good morning."

Chloe stretched. "'Morning!" She rolled over, facing Max, laying her cheek on her own hand.

The way her stare lingered meant the world to Max. She could stare into those eyes forever.

"I'm going to be having nightmares forever," Max said, her smile faltering.

"Let's hope not," Chloe replied. She squeezed Max's hand in condolence.

"What happened this time?"

"Oh, just walking through the school hallways. Candlelit with everyone's voices repeating on a loud speaker."

"You poor thing," Chloe said. "I'm sorry this is happening to you."

"It beats being in a real endless time loop. I thought I lost you forever there. I was in Hell."

"I'm glad you found me." Max detected a tear in Chloe's right eye.

Chloe stretched, groaning in emphasis and stood up, "Well, time to face the day!"

She tossed Max a shirt, as she was wearing a pajama shirt too big for her. The clothes she had to borrow were all black, with Chloe's favorite bands on them. "Hopefully they don't question this one," she said, referring to a recent time a totally punk rock student quizzed her on The Misfits' entire discography and history.

"Don't let it bother you. I still get the same quizzes from pretentious idiots." Chloe grabbed a towel for a shower and left the room.

On the campus of Sunset High, Max and Chloe sat on a bench together playing a game.

"Never have I ever… slept with a girl." Chloe put one finger down, leaving four fingers up in her lap.

"Oh, like that's a surprise! Miss Lesbian Sex Master," Max teased.

"Hey, I like pussy!" Chloe said, putting her hand in her lap. She bounced it between her knees, playfully.

"Never have I ever… wanted someone I can't have."

Chloe and Max put a finger down. "Oooh, juicy. I gotta hear about this! I bet Warren isn't playing hard to get lately!"

Max said, "Warren likes Brooke. I know he has a crush on me, too, but still… Brooke could have any guy if she just tried to be a little more…chipper?"

Chloe said, "He would kiss your feet if you hadn't showered for 5 days."

"You would know," Max said, pushing Chloe's shoulder.

Chloe said, "Hey, I would kiss your feet to repay you for saving my life if I had to. If you hadn't showered for five _hundred_ days."

Max smiled and looked at Chloe's hands. Adorned with a black thumb ring. She could even make simple jewelry look pretty.

"Speak of the devil," Chloe said.

Warren had arrived, a flier in-hand. "Hey guys. Girls. Girl-bros!" he joked.

Max smiled, "Hey Warren."

Chloe sighed, smiling. "I'll leave you girl-bros alone." She left and walked to her usual smoking area a few yards away, next to the brown brick wall of the school.

"I heard you talking to Chloe about movies and it made me think—Why don't I take my good friend to see something soon? My treat!" Warren made a hopeful expression.

"If you're not too busy playing Xbox all the time!" Max teased.

"I'm the master at martians—don't even try me," Warren swayed his shoulders, smiling.

"What's playing?" Max asked.

"Dystopia is screening at this place for cheap. Tomorrow at 7." He handed her the flier. A sci-fi design was on it, explosive rays shooting out.

"That would be great. I'll be there." Max smiled, shyly looking at the flier.

"Alright!" Warren looked thrilled and jogged away.

Chloe returned with a cigarette in two fingers. "Got a date?"

"I wouldn't call it a date," Max replied.

"Bet Warren thinks it is."

Max felt disappointed. She had no way of telling Chloe, but she'd much rather be dating her. But crossing boundaries between two friends was never in the plan. She couldn't tell if that would shatter everything she kept trying for the past few weeks or if it would be destiny. Revealed.

In the office building-made-theater, Warren had popcorn in a bucket and sodas for he and Max. The movie hadn't started and over a dozen other movie buffs sat in rows chattering. "I hope it's as good as I remember it," Warren said.

"Seriously," Max concurred. "Finally I get to see a movie you get hyped about so it would suck if it bombed."

Warren smiled. "If it's not that good I can always do the hole in the popcorn trick."

"Ha ha. Don't even go there," Max laughed politely. She couldn't let it show that Warren's joke made her uncomfortable.

"Sorry, but a guy can't just ignore how lucky he's getting… I'm just glad I can joke with you. You're one of the only girls who get my sense of humor."

"What about Brooke? She's your girl friend too," Max looked at him, hopeful.

"Yeah. She's a little mediocre sometimes. I prefer the jokester, playful humor of _some_ other girl friend of mine." He grinned.

"Mediocrity rules, man," Max joked.

After the movie, Max and Warren raved about how good it was. Warren offered her a ride home and she accepted, texting Chloe that she wouldn't have to pick her up. Her response worried her: "Ooh, better take a breath mint!" She worried whether she should full-on confess her love to Chloe when she gets home or take the easy way out and kiss Warren. It wasn't much of a dilemma, despite the hesitance, because she knew who she loved, and it wasn't Warren.

They pulled up to the gravel driveway and Warren put the car in park. This wasn't just a quick drop-off.

"Well, thanks! I had fun." Max opened the car door quickly.

"Wait! Let me walk you," Warren said. The offer was predictable.

At the front door, there was no lamp to light them. The moonlight shone dimly but she could still see the sad puppy dog in Warren's expression. His hands were in his jean's pockets and his mouth was slightly parted, his teeth gleaming. Max could smell the mint he'd taken, prepared in his mouth.

He said, "I had fun too. We should do it again soon!"

"Yeah, of course." Max looked at his mouth, wondering how she could pass as being attracted to him if he were to go in for the kill right then. All she could think of was the building lust for Chloe and how she would much rather smell that melting mint on her breath, behind soft lips, in her love's mouth, looking into pale blue eyes. Feeling her soft freshly showered skin on hers, as she climbed atop her.

She felt a twinge in her nether regions as the fantasy began. Warren took a faint step forward.

"Thanks for walking me! Bye!"

She tried the door quickly but it didn't budge. She instantly hammered on the door, turning the doorknob back and forth.

Warren took this as the cue and started at a jog. "Bye!" he said, his feet crunching down the driveway. He sat in his car until Joyce opened the door and greeted Max.


	2. Chapter 2

Her place was nestled next to Chloe in bed, the dim ceiling light was on. She could smell Chloe's joint the moment the door opened. She lay next to her and inhaled the detergent wafting off her clothes. She tried not to be too obvious.

"How'd it go? Did he get lucky?"

Max scoffed. She paused, letting the question hang for a few seconds. Chloe licked her lips and raised her eyebrows at her.

"No. I feel so bad."

"Awww," Chloe laughed. "Don't feel too bad. You know boys aren't entitled to your sweet heroic affection."

"Yeah, only you are!" Max teased. She put an arm over Chloe's stomach. Her heart beat faster. Her fingers hesitantly rubbed the revealed skin under her shirt.

Chloe gave a short laugh.

That Saturday, Chloe was out with friends. Max chose to stay in and study because her grades weren't as great as at Blackwell. She felt disturbed by the nightmares. They persisted every single night. Day in and day out she was stressed that they would never go away. The school counselor was no help. She couldn't admit what had happened—that she killed all those people. That without her stupid power Blackwell and Arcadia Bay would still be standing.

In recapping this while studying, Max found herself unable to concentrate and texted Chloe to see where she was.

 _I would rewind one more time just to be a kid again. Have to do it all over again. Maybe change the course of time in some other way so I don't even have to go to Blackwell._

Max daydreamed about being kids with Chloe. When they had sleepovers, she wanted to hug her in bed even back then. Now she could sometimes, but not without giving it away. She was in love. The figurative depiction of love she had for Chloe was a heart the size of the world. A cheesy construction paper Valentine's heart, like the Valentines they used to make for each other in middle school.

Her head was in her hand as she looked at her phone on the desk. It buzzed and Chloe's text shone bright and welcome on the screen. "At the hole in the wall! Come here!"

She was referring to a bar that allowed minors and had bands play every day, except Sundays. On Sundays they had brunch and mimosas. Minors could get X's drawn on their hands so as not to get them all drunk.

Despite that, when Max arrived, Chloe's breath smelled of beer and cigarettes. She didn't mind though—the way Chloe acted when she drank was playful and more flirtatious. This could be a good opportunity to flirt back, as she'd done many times before. Maybe even get a kiss in there somewhere.

Chloe's friends were some new Oregon punks they'd both met, very social LGBT girls and guys who went out on the gay scene every week. Max could tell Chloe felt more like she belonged here than in Arcadia. At least she could stay in school instead of being banished because of failures. And as she put it, not being a goody-goody snob like everyone else was there. Like a prep.

In no time, her friends were drunkenly gallivanting around, laughing and chain smoking next to Chloe, taking her attention away from Max. One of the girls—whose name was Jen—was a feminine girl with a trendy black androgynous asymmetrical haircut. Her eyes gleamed behind her eyeliner. Each time Max saw her, she wanted to puke with the sarcasm under the surface about her general demeanor. Everything about her reeked of trendy socialite lesbian who everyone loves. Her skin was flawless. It was hard not to be jealous at the very sight of her.

"Ooh, I like your jacket, girrrl. Where'd you get it?"

Of course an arm-warmer gay guy came up to compliment her, pulling gently at the collar of her jacket, furthering Max's feelings. Max just looked at Chloe, admiring her glossy eyes gleaming in the lights from the patio's lamp posts.

The music in the bar was pounding. The patio was getting harder to bear, with its buzz of indecipherable chatter and laughter. Max felt she didn't belong, but she would go anywhere with Chloe.

Ash trays filled with cigarette butts bothered Max's irritable allergies. She blew her nose into a bandana she had pocketed.

"Oh, poor Max. Is the smell too strong for you?" Chloe put her arm around Max's shoulders. Max felt embarrassed as she wanted nothing more than to lean in to the hug and be held by Chloe for minutes, ideally.

"Oh, shut up. I'm just allergic to something."

"Ha! Yeah, the night life of being older finally. Remember when we were kids? I would never dream of seeing you at a trashy bar with live music blaring!"

"Well, don't be too sure I can't get into the night life."

Max smiled, putting her bandana away.

A bigger, more butch girl came up to the group. Max had seen her once before, but she was new. They'd never been introduced. "Hey Jen." She greeted the Pretty Girl of the lesbian scene.

"Hey, Kyle." Max realized this was a trans guy by his name.

Kyle put his arm around Jen. "I was hoping to see you here!" he said. His voice was deeper than his appearance let on, like a teenage boy going through puberty.

"I thought the same! Hey, hi five!" Jen teased and she jumped perkily as her hand hit his hand.

"Alright, enough you two. We're all here. We're all happy." Chloe let go of Max regrettably, and made a "calm down" gesture to the two.

"Oh, be quiet Chloe. It's not like you weren't groveling over Max to come here all night," Jen said, teasing, but rudely.

"Whaaat?" Max asked in surprised. "Groveling, were you?" Max put her hand on her hip to mimick a mocking stance.

"Nooo! I wasn't groveling. I just said I missed you, that's all. Studying is for squares." Chloe scoffed, but she felt her face get hot. She huffed out a big breath.

"Aww, you missed me," Max teased.

"Did not!" Chloe teased back. "I bet you missed me so much that's why you even came out to meet us. For _me_." Chloe pointed her fingers at her chest.

"True," Max said, unashamed.

Chloe looked at Jen being pampered by Kyle as he wiped some of her eyeliner, fixing it like a gentleman. He took her chin in her hands and honed in on a kiss. Jen returned hesitantly. His arm felt strong around her waist and she giggled, cutting the kiss short. She said, "I could use another drink, who's with me!?" The group cheered and they started inside.

"Oh whoopee!" Chloe exclaimed, throwing her hands up and leaving, towards the exit. Max followed her, as she didn't know anyone else there. Past the exit of the patio she caught up to her and asked, "What was all _that_ about?"

Chloe looked upset, like she had something on her mind. "Oh, she doesn't like Kyle. She needs to stop leading on poor lesbians and men to be all over her and feel like they got lucky when they didn't. At all."

"Yeah, I've noticed she's kind of like a player," Max smiled.

"Every time we're here she's with a new girl." Chloe exaggerated, but it was true she changed girls like the days of the week.

Max said, "That's just her flavor of the week, huh?"

"Yup," Chloe said.

They continued walking out of the parking lot. At the sidewalk, Chloe explained, "I need to sober up. Let's go to the bridge, yeah?"

There was an arching bridge at a park they'd been to a few times. Sitting at the railing, Max's heart sped up. She was daydreaming again—that this would be the night. She felt Chloe being bothered and confessing a "can't be tamed" lesbian celebrity who got 50 likes on Facewaste photos would be a call to action that she would kiss her, or even get an open to be with her until the end of days.

Chloe teased, touching Max's chest, "You look pretty rocker in that shirt you're wearing." It was a Bad Brains shirt. She felt it was her favorite out of the clothes Chloe lent her, mostly because it's one of the first ones she saw her in after the week from Hell. She'd tossed it to her and said, "Here, you can have it!"

Max smiled. "Not as badass as you, though." She bit her bottom lip, smiling.

"You… you confuse me," Chloe said, squinting her eyes at her and taking out a cigarette from her pack. She lit it and took a deep drag.

She stretched out her back and slid the black beanie off of her head, letting her growing-out blue hair fall around her face. She sprawled over, legs on the arm of the bench, head resting on Max's lap. Max's heart beat faster and she didn't know where to put her hands, so she spread them on either side of her. She already felt overwhelmed with joy that this affection was being displayed once again.

"After all the shit we've been through, I'd just be happy if we could rewind and live every moment together forever."

Max's heart skipped a beat.

"Me too," she said.

She put her right hand over Chloe's heart. Chloe looked up at her. And let out a belch. She cracked up into laughter. "I'm so sorry." She laughed and got back up from her laying position. "I have had to burp for _such_ a long time."

Max giggled back, but felt slightly disappointed. Even so, Chloe's lack of manners was adorable.


	3. Chapter 3

In their bedroom, Max closed the door lightly as Chloe flopped on the bed, the musty brown sheet jumping with force.

Max sat at the provided motel-esque chair, which looked to be straight from the 70's.

"I never heard that new song you were working on," Chloe said, closing her eyes.

"Oh yeah!" Max said excitedly. Chloe was her biggest fan, if she were to have a fan base. Although, Chloe was the only one who'd heard any of her songs in years.

"Play for me, Jeeves!" Chloe joked, making a conductor motion with her arm.

Max smiled, picking up her guitar, which was a new/old beat up acoustic from the pawn shop. Taking the pick from the strings, she started plucking the individual notes in a complex pattern—one she'd mastered after years of practice since she started playing freshman year.

The genre of her song had a folk indie sound to it. She hummed a melody she had in mind in a light voice. After a moment of the intro, she hammered on the power chords and major chords she'd come up with—verse, chorus, verse—but the bridge was a breakdown that alternated between complex chords and it had a really pick-me-up vibe to it before the final chorus repeated twice and slowed to a stop.

Chloe shook her crossed leg over her knee and threw her hands up in celebration at the end.

"Yeah! Max, that was so good. _You_ wrote that?"

Max smiled. "Yup!"

"I can't wait for you to play at an open mic some time. And you better do it! I want to be in the front, center-stage, singing along!"

Max put her guitar back by the table and laid next to Chloe.

"You're so supportive. I don't know where I'd be without you."

School on Monday was awkward at the start. Usually Max met with Warren before the bell rang, but this day, he was talking to Brooke in an unusual spot. Chloe was always there, but she had her own group of friends who had more in common with her than Max was used to attempting to discuss. She hid by herself before the bell finally rang and pretended to be busy looking through her collection of photos.

It was hard making friends, so she usually just stuck to the ones she already had, as was usual. Also, the rumors of what had happened back in Arcadia Bay with Mr. Jefferson being a rumored pedophile and rapist created unfounded controversy among immature peers.

Max picked up a school paper from a stand in the hallway before class and the one headline she noticed was 'New Jefferson Leads related to Child Photos.'

' _It makes me sick that everyone buys into this bull crap._

At lunch, Warren was nowhere to be found and Alyssa was with her own group of friends Max had no clue how to approach. They always seemed enraptured with their talking and their cell phones. Max was much more shy after everything that went down at school.

Chloe jumped onto the bench next to Max. "Hey girl!"

"Hey Chloe," Max said.

"Why so glum?"

"Oh, I don't know. Just thinking I guess."

"Is it about your boy toy?" Chloe teased.

"I guess, because I have no idea where he is."

Chloe twisted her face in disgust. "Euch!" she exclaimed. "I hope you don't like him."

"Don't worry."

Finally, she spotted him. He was walking next to Brooke, coming from around the corner of the building. Brooke looked at her phone, but flirtatiously flipped her hair as Warren talked about something engagingly, hand motions and all.

"I guess he got some new poontang!" Chloe laughed and chewed a piece of gum.

Max could feel the urge to choke back tears, as she felt major indicators that Chloe and she could be happy together. Forever. In love.

 _After everything that happened, why did she have to make this so hard!?_

"It's okay. You'll always have me."

Chloe suddenly put her arms around Max's shoulders and gave her a wet kiss on the lips, jokingly. She laughed.

"Stop it, lesbians!" a passing acquaintance of Max's joked with them.

"See, even the students ship us!" Chloe said.

Max was in shock. She finally, after a moments' hesitation joked back, putting the back of her hand to her forehead damsel-in-distress style and saying "Whew!" short of breath. It came out like a squeak.

"I know you've been waiting for that one again, baby dyke." Chloe laughed. She knew Max had to have bicurious tendencies; she just wasn't ready. From her viewpoint, she couldn't push something that needed to happen naturally, if that. But it was getting harder and harder to refrain from just grabbing her friend by the shoulders and saying, "Kiss me, you fool!"

That night, Max's dream was bad. Not only was Chloe on the train tracks about to be run over by a train, but it derailed and hurtled through space, creating that all too familiar vortex full of train spokes, rubble, and sparks. The space around it just looked so vast and daunting. All the voices she'd heard over the week from Hell repeated like racing thoughts over a loud speaker.

Max woke with a start, beads of sweat on her forehead, gasping for air. Chloe got up with her, immediately wrapping her arms around her as she did almost every night, give or take a few.

"Shh, shh… it's okay," she coaxed, petting Max's hair.

Max sobbed quietly. "It was so scary…"

"Shhhh…" Chloe calmed her, as Max's heart slowed its pulse.

"That was bad… I don't want to lose you… It was so real, like it always was…"

Chloe hugged her tight and eventually got her to lay down with her. She held her arms as they were wrapped around herself. Max sniffled until she finally spoke. "I know they're just dreams. But they can stand out so much, like they're my reality for that moment. It's not fair. All I wanted was to be with you."

She sniffled again. She held Chloe's hand as she turned to see Chloe's face. In the moonlight coming through the ratty old shutters, Chloe's eyes looked half-opened back at Max's.

"Max, I… I love you." She at last spoke, with an unbreaking staring gaze, full of fear and hope.

"I'm so sorry—"

Max didn't let her finish before she interrupted with a kiss. Before long, they were battling for enough pressure to force the other down onto the bed, forcing with each kiss for one another's lips to part, licking one another's lips. Chloe topped and straddled Max quickly, throwing off her own shirt into the dark. What little moonlight there was lit her soft skin. Max's face grew hot with fear. This is what it felt like to be tied up in The Dark Room, by Mr. Jefferson.

Her bra, she unhooked with one hand. Max's was off already and Chloe lifted her shirt gently, grazing her belly, trailing her finger tips up to her chest, which was heaving with exasperated breaths, followed by lips leaving a trail of kisses up her stomach.

Beads of sweat broke out on Max's forehead.

"Chloe," she whispered.

It was finally happening. Max couldn't believe it. After all that she'd been through, this was finally happening and it was unbelievable, but she was so filled with fear.

Chloe lay on her side and kissed Max more, caressing her chest and holding her legs between her own.


End file.
